Winter Wars
by BlueViolets87
Summary: It is an unwritten rule to never throw snowballs at the Marauders in their specialty made winter wonderland without expecting some kind of retaliation that may or may not involve water balloons.


**Happy New Year everyone!**

**Disclaimer: I'm not J.K Rowling and characters like Mattie, Melody and Mary are from the lovely Invisiblegirl3, who has a series of stories about them that you should check out because they are really terrific and definitely worth reading.  
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* * *

Yes, wintertime at Hogwarts was of course the most magical time of the year. Even with Voldemort rising and more and more students being forced to stay over at Hogwarts, people still found ways to have fun, especially the Marauders. They managed to transform the Room of Requirement into a winter wonderland compete with somehow real snow drifting down from the ceiling. The Marauders watched over their friends as they stood dumbfounded in the doorway.

"I didn't even know the room could get this big!" Alice whispered. Frank took a cautious step into the room and his foot sunk through like quicksand. As the chilling wind hit him (where could that possibly come from?) and the snow wrapped around his foot, Frank began to shiver. "It's even cold!"

"Pretty cool, eh Frank?" James grinned proudly from a deck above the hill. "Smartest room around. Got it to snow inside, real snow!" Remus, Peter and Sirius stepped out onto the edge of the deck as well. Remus was carrying a bundle of some sort.

"Forgot the most important part there James. Here Mary, catch!" Remus tossed the bundle into the air and pulling out his wand in a flash, he quickly levitated it down to Mary. It was a pile of coats, boots, hats and mittens for the girls and Frank. "Come join us!' Remus then called out, cupping his covered hands around his mouth so his voice would carry. They started making their way across the field, kicking up snow as they raced each other. Melody and Mary flopped down to start making a snow angel twins as the others began making a snowman.

Suddenly a large thump rang out from the balcony but when Lily looked up, nothing was there. She squinted to try to see through the snow, when something poked her tense back. She jumped slightly until she whipped around to see James and the Marauders standing behind her.

"You jerk, you scared me!" she exclaimed, shoving James slightly.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. You guys are so tense!" he responded, shaking his hair out of his eyes.

"I heard something up there." Lily pointed up to the balcony. They all looked up and suddenly a snowball came flying over, hitting Frank straight in the chest. He staggered back, letting out a small grunt. Alice ran over to him to see if he was alright but was also swiftly struck in the side of the neck. A shower of snowballs rained down upon the group, stunning them as they tried to cover themselves with anything they could find. The attack continued until Lily managed to pull out her wand and shout "Protego!". The snowball assault stopped and three Ravenclaw boys stood up on the balcony, roaring with laughter.

"Newman," James made out through gritted teeth.

"Newman?" Melody asked.

"Colin Newman, Jacob Gerth and William Banners. We've been at war since first year," Sirius answered, eyes narrow. Alice glanced over at Frank and mouthed _war? _He just shrugged.

"Gotta Potter. How does it feel to eat snow?" Colin sneered, though William shot him a warning look.

"You'll pay for this Newman. You made a big mistake here!' James shouted back. "Come on guys." He gestured for the other Gryffindors to follow him and led them out the door and back to their common room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's revenge time." James winked as he opened up the door to the Marauders' and Frank's dorm. He directed them to a large and covered hot tub.

"Now sit around the edges, you don't want to fall in. This is a state-of-the-art plotting hot tub and I can't have any of you falling in and ruining the suspense and planning. Understood?" James instructed all of them seriously.

Lily spoke up. "Wait, why do you have hot tub in here in the first place?"

"Yeah, what if a teacher or Filch finds out?" Mary added, somewhat nervously.

"Ah, no worries there. When was the last time Filch has come up here?" Sirius replied breezily, hopping onto the side of the hot tub. " And why wouldn't we have a hot tub? We like warm, bubbly water and it's our holiday. James' house always has a hot tub where we plan everything and we are not missing out a year because we can't leave Hogwarts."

James was growing restless. "Alright everyone, back to the issue at hand, revenge!"

"What's the plan?" Peter asked eagerly.

James pulled a bag out of his pocket. "These!"

Lily took the bag and opened it. She pulled out dozens of small, colorful balloons. "Hang on, how did you possibly get muggle water balloons?"

"My uncle gave them to me last Christmas and I forgot I had it until now," James grinned as the wizards and witches who had never seen balloons such as those before (namely Frank and Mary) experiencing them for the first time, stretching and feeling them in amazement.

"So we fill these up and throw them at the Ravenclaws who will be waiting for us outside the portrait because they're not idiots? Yeah, great plan," Melody sighed, rolling her eyes.

"You wound me to think I would come up with such a simplistic plan Williamson" James dramatically slapped his chest as though Melody actually drove a knife through it. "We get to their dorm and cover their beds with the filled water balloons that we will charm to look invisible."

Everyone thought about it for a second before Melody broke the silence. "I still think that wouldn't work. These targets aren't fools, they would notice even if the balloons are invisible."

"I know these guys, they wouldn't notice," Sirius defended the plan and his friend's pride as a master prankster.

"I don't know guys, there are a lot of holes and places where it could go wrong," Lily argued. "We can't guarantee they wouldn't catch us."

"You don't have to help us you know." James said irritably.

Frank and Remus exchanged skeptical glances.

"Yeah, I guess we don't!" Lily retorted, just as annoyed as his pride.

"We could easily do our own prank." Mattie added, leaning forward and placing her hands further in to, calmly yet with the ferocity of an agitated pixie.

"Is that a challenge?" James raised an eyebrow.

"Is it?" Mattie shot back. Everyone else just sat in silence, not wanting to set off the firecracker of the argument.

"Sure sounds like it!"

"Well then maybe it is!" Mattie slid off of the hot tub and shot Lily, Mel, Mary and Alice an expecting glance. "You with me?"

"Easily." Melody joined her with Lily and Mary right behind her. Alice apologetically looked at Frank and he nodded understanding. They had to keep their roommates from boiling over further, even if that means separating.

Lily took the liberty of slamming the door behind them before retreating up to their dorm.

"Mattie, you have a plan right?" Mary asked when the door was closed.

Mattie grinned mischievously, looking very similar to James just a few minutes earlier.

"Let's get to work."

* * *

"Do you see anyone coming Wormtail?" Sirius whispered as a small rat dart over to where Sirius' shaggy head floated in the air. The rat grew and transformed until Peter stood there shivering.

"Blimey it's cold out here. No one's coming." he told Sirius. "Can I come under the invisibility cloak too?"

"Alright but hurry." Peter duck under and disappeared next to Sirius. The two shuffled around the corner where Remus, Frank and James stood in front of a large door without any keyhole or doorknob but instead had one bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. Remus was biting the nail of his pointer finger, his usual puzzled position.

"What's the riddle this time?" Sirius asked his friends, taking off the cloak.

Frank answered for Remus who was still deep in thought. "What's easy to get into but hard to get out of?"

He had barely gotten the riddle out when Remus's eyes brightened. "Of course! A real Marauder puzzle! Trouble. The answer is trouble!"

'Well put," The eagle chirped before the door swung open.

"Come on then mates," James picked up the bag of water balloons that were at his feet and slung it over his shoulder. "Christmas is coming early for a few lucky Ravenclaws."

Leading the way through the common room, James continued to mumble "ho, ho, ho" under his breath until they reached the door to their targets' room. Sirius stepped forward pulling out his little penknife and slid it into the lock of the door. The Marauders stepped into the room and looked around.

"Alright, let's get to work. We don't have long before dinner ends." Sirius flipped his penknife closed before putting it in his pocket. He and Frank began pulling water balloons out of the bag, passing them to James and Peter who distributed them among the beds. Remus nervously stood watch under the invisibility cloak.

"Has anyone seen the girls yet?" Frank brought up as he worked. Remus peeked further into the common room in search for them but responded with a negative. Frank sighed.

They had gotten through the bulk of the balloons when Remus turned around and slid the hood off of his head. "Almost done there?"

"Just about. Have a few stragglers at the bottom of the bag," Sirius responded, searching for them. His hand curled around one and he pulled it out, victoriously.

He looked up at Remus who had disappeared again. Instead, standing there was a very annoyed-looking Jacob.

"Find what you were looking for, Sirius?" he asked, eyes narrow.

"Not yet, almost done though," Sirius replied calmly. He stood up and slowly walked over to James. "I thought they were definitely at dinner!" he whispered furiously to his friend.

James shrugged. "They were earlier." There was a chance that in repairing his pride, James may have overlooked a small detail in his plan.

Jacob stormed in with Colin and William right behind him. "We aren't as stupid as you think everyone is, Potter. We've been expecting your revenge."

"Okay so nobody's perfect." James gave a seemingly causal laugh. He looked over at Peter and Frank who had retreated over to other side of the room. Peter gave a small, unsure shrug.

Colin walked over his bed and threw over the covers to reveal the many balloons. "Juvenile," he sneered.

"Says the guy who thought throwing snowballs at us was a good idea," Sirius scoffed back. Colin and Sirius begun arguing as Peter, William and Frank edged out of the room. As he was leaving, Frank ran his fingers over the door-frame and moved his thumb up and down in an obvious gesture. With that, the ceiling seemed to burst open and a storm of balloons fell through, splashing Sirius, James, Colin and Jacob and the bulk of the room. The four all cried out as the frigid water hit them and they looked up in shock.

Lily, Mattie, Mary, Melody and Alice looked down from the ledges that jutted out around the domed room. Lily smiled down at them and gave a little wave.

"This war is over," Mattie declared. "Fooled by a simple illusion spell, you boys have lost your touch."

Colin began to sputter. "H-how? What?"

"A good magician never reveals her secrets but I will give a bit of credit to Frank, Remus, Peter and William who want to keep their pig-brained mates in check too," Mattie saluted towards the door.

"Merry Christmas!" Melody added.

Yes, it was a winter war like no other.


End file.
